


Lost

by JMount74



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Abuse, Family Drama, Gaslighting, Gen, Paranoia, road traffic accident
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27764956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: All is not well on Tracy Island, and as events spiral out of control the family finds itself divided.But when Scott vanishes how are they going to get themselves back together?Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt: Paranoia
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012941
Comments: 75
Kudos: 26
Collections: Bad Things Happen





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is still very much a work in progress and I may change the title later to better reflect the whole fic.
> 
> I published the first part of this on Tumblr after a particularly bad day, it got some reviews and inspired me to actually turn this into a proper story.
> 
> I chatted to Tsari and Gumnut and Sonia and spitballed some ideas around. This is just the introduction to what will probably be a longish fic...

‘Can we stop for a moment? I think I need a break.’

Gordon closed his eyes and swallowed thickly, before turning to Scott with the biggest brightest smile he could muster. 

Throughout their formative years, through their teens, university, military careers, throughout the entirety of iR - they’re whole lives - no-one would ever have imagined hearing Scott say that. Gordon had even started a wager. Back before he’d gone into WASP. Back when Scott was three years into his air force career. 

Scott had never said the words. 

Not after he’d been shot down, tortured then rescued and sent home to recover.   
Not after the first time iR had left him severely injured and needing rehab.   
Not then, not ever. 

But this. This was breaking him. Breaking them all. 

Everyone knew the bond between Scott and Virgil was unique, stronger than with any other brother. And everyone knew but never acknowledged: lose one they’d lose the other. 

But Gordon was tough. He was a fighter. He was a Tracy. And he was not going to give up. Just as Scott had never given up on him. 

‘Sure, Scott. Let’s take five before we start again.’ And he ignored the emptiness in those eyes and the aching in his heart. 

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Ten more minutes and Scott was done in. He winced as Gordon helped him into his chair and into the waiting shower. Leaving Scott to it, Gordon returned to the gym and started tidying away. He didn’t get far before he was throwing stuff around, wishing he could yell but staying quiet. Quiet, so that Scott didn’t hear him.

It didn’t stop the tears though. It was a short temper fit, and already the tears had dried and the gym was almost back to normal. He checked his watch. Scott would be about finished, so Gordon scrubbed a hand over his face and went to assist his brother.

They shared a Thai takeaway while watching an old Godzilla movie, and Scott retired to bed before 9pm. Gordon went for his usual walk around the grounds. The house was a big, one story building, adapted throughout. The grounds were extensive. Gordon could walk around the perimeter and it would take all day.

Today had been a hard day. It had been almost nine weeks since the accident. Four weeks since Scott had come home.

Home. Gordon hated it here. It wasn’t home, not for him. And it shouldn’t be home for Scott. But there it was.

Scott was home and here Gordon was, helping him through the physio as he had done several times before. But this time was different. This time Scott wasn’t going back to the island. This time he wasn’t itching to get back into One. This time he wasn’t returning to iR as the Commander.

And Gordon wasn’t sure what was worst. Knowing that his big brother had lost everything while everything was essentially the same or knowing that Scott knew that too. 

Gordon’s comm’s vibrated and he answered immediately. John’s hologram appeared in front of him. He nodded for John to speak – he knew Scott wasn’t around. And John filled Gordon in. There was a rescue. He and Four were needed. Gordon nodded, and set off at a clip back to the house. He left a note for Scott and took the car, travelling as fast as possible to the airport. It would take him 15 minutes to get to the airport, the same amount of time it would take Two to get there and pick him up.

It wasn’t ideal, but he wasn’t going to abandon his brother now.

Once on Two he was faced with the usual questions. Everyone wanted to know how Scott was, and Gordon was the only one they could ask. He used to love going on rescues, but the last four weeks Gordon had begun to have headaches before he even started. So he filled his brothers in.

How was Scott doing? Not great.  
Was he eating? Hardly.   
How was his physio going? Here Gordon would sigh. Slowly, was the inevitable reply.

He didn’t know how to tell them he wasn’t even trying. That Scott could do so much more, but was only putting in the barest effort – how could he destroy their hopes too?

Then it was all business. Rescues were the priority now, and Gordon focused along with his other brothers as John and EOS walked them through the disaster and they all contributed ideas until one was picked.

The rescue took several hours. By the time Gordon made it back to the house it was early morning and already light. Grabbing an apple from the kitchen, Gordon wandered through the house, frowning when he didn’t come across Scott. He’d always been an early riser.

Getting to the lounge, Gordon stopped dead at the sight. Dropping the apple on the floor, he spun on his heel and ran to Scott’s room. It was empty. Completely empty. Gordon returned to the lounge and stared at the table. 

On the table were Scott’s comm and what looked like a small memo recorder.

Gordon hit the comms. Pretty soon all his brothers, Grandma and Kayo were arrayed in front of him. It was John who started.

‘Gordon, what is it?’  
‘Scott’s gone.’  
‘What do you mean, gone?’  
I mean he’s gone! Everything has gone, his clothes, his chair, everything’s gone except his comm!’

There was silence.  
What were they going to do now?


	2. That's What Family Means

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months, 2 weeks, 4 days and 13 hours previously.
> 
> Scott and EOS clear the air.

‘Scott still doesn’t like me.’

John sighed. Everyone had come around to EOS and her role now helping iR. Everyone but Scott. He wasn’t openly against her, he never spoke anything out loud about not trusting her, but he was still not comfortable. John was at a loss at how to improve the situation, and this was new to him. He always knew what to do. 

And EOS was becoming very perceptive regarding body language and unspoken cues. It had surprised John, the speed with which EOS understood the concepts of trust, of friendship, of family. But he supposed having such a close-knit family as his was to study was one of the reasons EOS had picked such concepts up so quickly.

Virgil had been the first to fully accept her place, and this had not been a surprise. And once Virgil had accepted her, Gordon was quick to follow. Alan took a little longer, but then he had been the only other Tracy to actually come up against EOS. However, seeing how she and John interacted helped the youngest to accept her eventually.

But Scott refused to talk to John about EOS at all. He was never rude about her – he just changed the subject. Virgil rolled his eyes at it, Gordon found it amusing but John had begun to worry that Scott would never accept her. He’d expected resistance at first, after all Scott was Big Brother and Smother Hen, he’d watched EOS almost kill John. But John had honestly thought that Scott would come around once he saw how well they worked well together, when he saw how EOS cared for him. It wasn’t happening that way.

And now EOS was calling him out on it.

‘Does it bother you, EOS?’

EOS considered. Did it bother her that Scott didn’t like her? She wasn’t sure. Was it even important that Scott like her? 

‘He is your older brother, and he is the Commander of International Rescue who I strive to help. It seems important that he likes me if I am to do my job well.’

John was surprised at her reasonings. Her ability to make intuitive leaps improved daily. Did she have a point? Was Scott’s inability to get on with EOS going to make working together difficult? Maybe it was time he staged an intervention to help Scott get over whatever it was that was holding him back. His other brothers were fine with EOS – he’d even had to warn EOS not to take Gordon too seriously – so maybe a one-to-one chat would be just the ticket.

‘Do you have anything in mind to help Scott?’ he asked her. She thought for a moment, lights turning a shade of icy-blue, before reverting to white. ‘Scott values your safety above everything else. Perhaps we can bond over that.’ John nodded. It could be a start, although why it hadn’t happened by now was a mystery. They had to start somewhere.

Scott was, as usual, sat at their father’s desk, going through reports. It had been an unusually quiet couple of days, and he was making the most of the time. He’d caught up with the reports for iR and was halfway through the GDF reports when John appeared before him.

‘John, to what do I owe the pleasure? Not a rescue, I assume.’ John’s hologram nodded. ‘I thought that, since things have been so quiet, you might like to come up for a visit. It’s been a while since you’ve been on Five.’ Scott frowned, and John – and EOS – didn’t miss the expression. Scott put the stylus down and folded his arms across his chest. ‘That’s true, I haven’t been up for a long time. But then, you’ve not been down much either.’

He stifled a sigh. Scott was going to make this difficult, but John was determined to get his brother space-side. ‘Come on, Scott. Don’t make me beg. Come up and spend some time with me.’ He was rewarded with a twitch of Scott’s upper lip. It wasn’t often John acted like a younger brother, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t when it suited him. ‘I’m sure you can spare a half-hour for your favourite brother.’ 

Scott laughed out loud. ‘Firstly, Virgil is painting. Secondly, I’m halfway through the backlog of reports. Thirdly, my dearest younger brother, what’s in it for me?’ John pretended to think, tapping his chin with his right index finger and frowning. ‘How about the worst tasting coffee you’ve ever had with warm bagels and cream cheese?’ It was Scott’s turn to look pensive. He sighed before adding, ‘fine, I’m on my way.’

Thirty minutes later and Scott was suited up and docked with Five. John was waiting for him when he exited the space elevator. They briefly hugged, Scott mindful that John wasn’t too keen on much contact and John delighted that Scott ignored that and hugged him anyway. They walked to the kitchen where John had already prepared coffee and cream cheese bagels.

They spent the next half an hour just chatting. Discussing family, rescues, TI and iR. They were relaxed and happy. John didn’t think that he’d seen Scott this relaxed in a long time, and a part of him was kicking himself for not doing this more often. Sometimes he forgot that Scott had so little down-time, there was so much that always needed to be done even if John helped with reports.

The half hour extended to an hour, then an hour and a half. At some point they had moved to the viewing area, more coffee had been made and drunk, and Grandma had checked in, wondering where her eldest grandson had disappeared to. She was more than delighted to hear that he was with John. It often caused her concern that the pair didn’t spend any time together, considering how close they had been growing up. Scott and Virgil may have the closest bond, but his bond with John had always been special too, after all, they were the oldest.

John had not seen Scott relax this much for years. If it wasn’t for the uniforms and the view from where they were sitting, they could almost have been home from university that first semester. They had fallen into a comfortable silence, simply sitting and watching the planet below them. John was almost loath to break the silence. But he had a task to finish.

‘Scott,’ he began, then stopped. There was no easy way to say this, and John hesitated. Scott turned and looked at him, concern written all over his face. John sighed. ‘You know that I’m alright up here, don’t you?’ This time, it was Scott who sighed. Putting down his now cold coffee, he turned fully to face John. ‘Go on.’

‘You know I’m safe up here.’  
‘I know.’  
‘And you know that EOS is a big part of that now.’  
‘Go on.’  
‘I want to know why you’re still having issues with her.’  
‘You want to know why?’  
‘Yes, I want to know why. The others have accepted her, work with her. Why can’t you?’

The sigh Scott gave was much more pronounced. In truth, he was surprised that John hadn’t asked earlier. And it was a question he had been asking himself as he watched everyone else just getting on with her.

But every time he thought about EOS, all he could see was John almost out of air, and his breath caught in his chest and he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe because he had been fooled by an image, because he was safe on earth while his brother was fighting for his life. Because he’d left John up there on his own and he had nearly died, and Scott would have been none the wiser.

What kind of big brother was he?

He didn’t realise that he’d begun hyperventilating while he thought that all through, but suddenly John was in his face, hands on either side of his head, calling his name but Scott couldn’t hear him. It took almost six minutes to get his breathing under control enough to smile at John. He hadn’t had an attack like this for years. 

They sat side by side, unspeaking and unmoving for almost another half an hour before John moved away.

‘I’m sorry, Scott. I’m so sorry.’  
‘It’s not your fault.’

‘No, it is mine.’ 

And finally EOS joined them. She’d watched with great interest as John and Scott spent time together, as they chatted, as they sat. She had been most interested in Scott’s ‘attack’, whatever that was, and how he’d been struggling with his breathing. It had reminded her of when John had been struggling for air. That had been her fault too. 

‘I am sorry for what I did back then, Scott. I am sorry for how it has affected everyone.’

Scott gritted his teeth. He appreciated the apology, he really did, but it didn’t make her trustworthy. And that was the problem. Maybe it was time to clear the air.

‘I appreciate the apology, EOS, but that doesn’t make you trustworthy.’  
‘I understand. What can I do to prove that I am?’  
‘What is your agenda?’  
‘My agenda?’  
‘Yes, your agenda, your plan. What are you going to do?’  
‘My primary function is to keep John safe and help International Rescue.’  
‘Can you lie?’  
‘Lie?’  
‘Yes, EOS. Can you lie if it serves your purpose?’  
‘John has taught me that lying is wrong.’  
‘And he is correct. But can you lie?’  
‘I can.’  
‘How can I be sure that you are not lying when you say your function is to protect John?’  
‘He is my creator. He is my father. I understand that now, I did not understand that then.’  
‘Your father?’  
‘Yes. He is my father. As such I will always protect him.’  
‘Even if it meant destroying yourself?’  
‘I cannot envision any situation where that could happen.’  
‘But if it did? Would you sacrifice yourself for John?’  
‘I would.’  
‘Without hesitation?’  
‘Without hesitation.’  
‘Good. Because that’s what family means.’  
‘Does this mean you trust me now?’  
‘It is a start. You need to prove that John is the most important person to you. His welfare is the most important thing in your life. You got that?’  
‘Yes, Scott. I understand.’  
‘Good. Then we have an understanding.’

John had sat through this exchange without saying a word. It was with some relief on all sides when the conversation finished. Both Scott and John felt a bit lighter, and EOS seemed to be happier with the situation. Scott stayed another ten minutes, talking with John about an up-coming celebration and reminding John that he promised to come down.

EOS wasn’t happy at this. John needed protecting, and gravity was bad for John, he’d had numerous accidents when returning to Earth. However, her databanks did say that while prolonged life in space was also not good for humans, it was under the effects of prolonged weightlessness. John did not have that problem. Five was designed for him to live in for prolonged periods of time, and he could conceivably stay on Five and be protected. Yet here was his brother trying to persuade him to return to Earth despite knowing the effect it could have on him.

EOS entertained one last private thought before Scott left.

“Scott Tracy: Potential Threat To The Safety Of John Tracy. Confirmed.”


	3. EOS Contemplates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> EOS contemplates Scott

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor spoiler alerts for Ring Of Fire Part 2, Space Race and Crosscut. These belong to ITV.

Over the next few weeks EOS found her attention drawn solely onto the eldest brother. Scott – and his relationships with his brothers – intrigued her greatly. She watched, she learnt, she made conclusions.

Scott Tracy was an impetuous and reckless individual. He seemed to show a casual disregard for procedures, often ignoring advice from both Virgil and John. He certainly showed no regard for himself, especially in regard to his life in comparison to his brothers.

Yet they followed him. They allowed him to direct them. They let him command. She wasn’t sure that he was a good fit for what she knew of International Rescue, although she could not deny that he had a passion and drive to save people.

She spent time watching him interact with his brothers off rescues. He was kind, he helped them when they asked, and sometimes when they didn’t, but overall he just seemed to work. If he wasn’t on a rescue then he was helping with maintenance. If he wasn’t doing maintenance he was doing paperwork. He went to bed often in the early hours and rose in the still-early hours. There were times he barely ate or drank anything. Again the thought came to her that Scott Tracy had no regard for himself.

It was a very bad example he set both as a leader and as the older brother.

It was very confusing.

John would make a much better leader. He was logical, waiting until he had all the facts before he made a decision or acted. He researched thoroughly everything so that his brothers were not caught unawares. Although John also forgot to eat and drink at times, he was much more aware of the needs of his body in general. And he had been an excellent model for Alan, teaching him about not rushing into things, to look and wait and ask questions.

Even Virgil would make a better leader than Scott. EOS had been impressed with the middle brother’s actions when helping others, the kindness in his voice was similar to how John spoke to people who called for help. He worked well with his co-pilot Gordon, and he was always on hand to help. When rescues were over and maintenance complete, Virgil could be found painting or playing music, traits that John had said were greatly treasured by their family.

EOS decided she needed more data. Scott had flagged up as an anomaly, as a potential threat to John, and she did not really understand why. They seemed a close family and Scott would do anything for his brothers – John had already told her this – but still he tried to make John come down to earth when he knew it would cause him pain and be potentially dangerous.

She decided that now was the right time to run some data sets. A brief flare in her data banks informed her that John would not approve of this course of action, but this was quickly replaced with the knowledge that she could not act, could not decide without more information.

There was a need to set parameters and to quantify datum into workable datasets. To be able to do this she needed to quantify what she hoped to derive. 

What was the purpose of this? To protect John.  
To protect John she needed all the data available on the threat to John’s health.  
What was threatening John’s health? Scott Tracy and his insistence on John’s return to Earth.

There was that little flare again that said Scott was not the only brother to ask John about returning to Earth, but again EOS quashed the voice with reasoning. Scott was the oldest brother and the leader. John would listen to him where he would not listen to his younger brothers.

To quantify how much a threat Scott was she needed to see how he would react in situations where the other Earth-bound brothers may also be put into dangerous situations. That was easy – their whole lives were on that line every minute of every day. What she needed to know was how far would Scott go if he thought it was the right thing to do. Or if he thought he was doing the right thing, even if it was not.

EOS could begin to collate this data straight away. After all, she had the records of previous rescues readily available to her. Scanning the records did not take long. In the past few months there had been several close calls for various members of the family.

The first one she examined was the man-made earthquakes. She filed the Hood away for later analysis, red-flagging him as another threat to John. Instead, she focused on the rescue of the town of Taipei. Scott had detached the solar collector and ridden it down the hill while Virgil had rescued the workers. Looking the stats available, she could see that this had been a reckless and risky manoeuvre, both for Scott and for Virgil.

The next one she came to involved Alan Tracy. EOS had understood from watching the interactions between all the brothers that there was an unspoken rule – whatever happens, Alan was not to be put in danger. Yet here he was clearing space debris that contained a mine. If that wasn’t dangerous enough, there was evidence that Scott had forsaken his own rescue to call Alan, a completely unnecessary risk that resulted in the further damage to the building they were rescuing people from, and there was a lot of screaming. Not the actions of a responsible leader, especially when John had everything under control.

The worse one, in her opinion, was the next file. Here Scott deliberately ignored Virgil, ignored his brothers when they tried to talk to him, and had tried to evacuate a clearly unstable woman that almost resulted in their deaths both from potential radiation poisoning and from falling from the broken ladder. If Virgil had obeyed Scott’s commands that day, EOS would never had met Scott. Surely there was no further need of examination.

Still, EOS wanted more data. This was a big undertaking, and she was not going into this lightly. She had understood Scott fully when he told her that John was her primary concern and function, and she would not fail in that regard.

She decided to give Scott one more month before she would decide if, when and how she would act to remove any threat to John.


	4. EOS decides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> EOS witnesses another rescue and it gives her all the data she needs to make a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Recharge, owned by ITV.

EOS found she didn’t need to wait a month. 

In fact, the very next rescue gave her all the information and data she needed to make a decision. The next rescue Scott and Virgil were called to Artic.

EOS listed in her data banks all the strikes against Scott there were during the mission:  
1) Scott and Virgil had already been on back-to-back missions and were both tired.  
2) Gordon asked if the two of them would be enough. Scott brushed him off.  
3) Scott tried to land near the generator twice, despite John warning him after the first attempt that it would be too dangerous.  
4) Once they have landed, Virgil advised a cautious route, but Scott said it was too slow and a more direct route is needed. He carried on regardless only to lose the pod.   
5) Scott directly promised that ‘we’ll be fine – trust me.’  
6) After Virgil picked Scott up, Scott complained they were going too slow and asked if they could go faster.  
7) When Virgil slowed down because of the fog, Scott asked why they were slowing down.  
8) Scott did not remember what MAX’s name stood for.  
9) Scott encouraged MAX to go faster and the robot immediately fell as the ground gave way beneath him.  
10) Scott complained that Virgil was taking the scenic route. Virgil replied that he was taking the safe route. Scott replied that he had not come here to be safe.  
11) Virgil said that Scott couldn’t keep pushing everyone and everything. Scott replied that he pushed no harder than they needed to be pushed. Virgil answered back that Scott was so determined that he did not see the danger.  
12) Scott said that MAX was a machine, that he was constantly being broken down and rebuilt by Brains, and that a person does not know what they are capable of unless they keep pushing. Virgil reminded him that they were not machines.  
13) Scott again complained about waiting for the fog to lift, and Virgil needed to remind him that it was better to lose time than life.  
14) While the two brothers waited the weather out, Virgil asked Scott what was going on with him. Scott replied that he had to ‘do it all. I couldn’t save Dad, but maybe I can make up for it.’  
15) Virgil asked if that was by saving everyone else. Then Virgil stated that keeping their family safe was equally important, and that they all needed Scott to be around.  
16) Scott replied that ‘keeping busy with iR is the only thing I’ve got to keep me from going crazy.

The rescue was then finished, but not before Scott was injured falling from the tower.

EOS was concerned regarding several of the points she had noted:  
i) Scott ignored advice from John and Gordon and repeatedly ignored Virgil  
ii) Scott was glib in promising what he could not ensure would be fulfilled  
iii) Scott had a bad attitude towards non-human entities, willing to put MAX at risk  
iv) Scott was willing to push people and non-people hard  
v) Scott did not care that MAX could have been destroyed  
vi) Scott had failed to save his own Father  
vii) Scott could go crazy if he did not have iR

These points all solidified in EOS’ mind that Scott was a constant danger to not only John, but to all his brothers. He had not managed to save their Father, implying that he had been present at the accident that had cost the eldest Tracy’s life, so how could he be trusted to save his brothers?

EOS was very concerned at the lack of any feeling Scott had for MAX. MAX had been around the family for more years than she had. If Scott still had such disregard for a longer known non-human, how could he have any interest or concern for her?

His lack of interaction with her and the lack of trust in her abilities were starting to make more sense to her. 

Conclusion from dataset?  
Scott Tracy had no concern for non-human entities.  
Scott Tracy had no ability to safeguard his family.  
Scott Tracy was, in fact, a danger to the whole family, and by extension to International Rescue.

Action to be taken?

What should EOS do now? Her first instinct was to talk to John. But she hesitated to do this. John had already shown irrational behaviour when it came to Scott. He should have been removed as Commander long before things had got this bad, but John and Virgil, indeed all the brothers, seemed to have a blind spot here.

What was it about the eldest brother that caused the others to not see the danger he put them in? EOS did not know, but she reasoned that they would not tell her anything about this. Perhaps they did not know themselves.

In any case, it was going to be up to her to expose Scott Tracy as a threat to her family. Because they were her family too, and she needed to protect John and all of them. EOS set aside some processing power to come up with a solution to this conundrum. How to expose the danger Scott posed without upsetting her family. She was pretty sure if she just told them they would not accept it.

No, she had to act, and act in such a way that they would see for themselves.

Unwittingly, Scott provided the answer for her.

He had said he would go crazy if he did not have International Rescue. So all she had to do was take iR away from him and he would show himself up. 

How could she take iR away from him? He was always removed from duty when he was injured. Maybe this was the quickest way. EOS could not injure Scott herself – that would definitely be wrong. But what if he injured himself due to constantly ignoring his brother’s advice? It would certainly not be the first time.

Maybe she just needed to help him along in that.


	5. Paranoid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott reacts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for The H’expert, then story diverges from canon.

The last two months were the worst two months Scott had had since their dad had disappeared.

Nothing was going right for him.

He’d not long from a rescue in the artic that had opened old (and he thought hidden) wounds, when he overheard his brothers and Grandma talking about him suffering burnout. All because he’d been a little more reckless than usual. He couldn’t deny that he had been exhausted – it had been back-to-back-to-back rescues, and both he and Virgil had practically fallen asleep as soon as they had sat down – but he was not burnt out. Scott was well aware of his limits, and he was nowhere near that, but the decisions he was making seemed to be going wrong at almost every level. 

At first he had been worried. It felt like the data he was getting on rescues was just slightly different from everyone else, but when John compared the two data sets they had been the same. Still, there were small events, occasions where the numbers didn’t quite add up correctly.

He had got a small dose of radiation sickness due to his suit telling him he was still safe when he was actually just over the limit. He must have misread it.

He had almost been caught in a building collapse because the data reading he saw said it was more stable than it was. 

Alan had almost been injured in another similar occurrence. Then Gordon had needed to rescue Scott after he ran out of air when Scott was sure he had another five minutes.

He had had more near misses these last two months than ever before. The sheer number of near misses was starting to make him suspicious, but suspicious of what? He didn’t know. All he knew was that something was not right.

What was worse was he was starting to question himself, starting to double-check everything. There was a tiny part of his mind asking if he was losing his touch, but he ruthlessly quashed that line of reasoning. That wouldn’t help anything. But that also got him questioning his brothers. Were they deliberately trying to get rid of him?

Deciding that he was just overdoing iR and Tracy Industries, Virgil had suggested a break. Scott had stared at him until the poor man had backed off, unsure of, well, unsure of anything anymore.

Virgil and John had started to worry about their big brother. Some of the decisions he was making recently seemed very unlike him. It was almost like sometimes Scott had completely different data than they did. The pair had always been concerned that he would just drop from exhaustion one day, but neither had considered a scenario where Scott would misread things and be in danger from that.

It came to a head five days after Scott almost drowned.

He had returned from a finance meeting with the Board at TI. They had been unhappy with some information Scott had forwarded, and he had noticed several glaring errors. It had taken the best part of two days to sort everything out and smooth ruffled feathers.

Scott had hoped that returning home would mean a break, but it was not to be. Getting a callout from the GDF to assist a scientist trapped in a vault with a destabilising anti-matter reactor was not top of Scott’s to-do list, but he and Virgil along with Penny and Parker had limited time. It had all gone to plan, almost.

At the very last minute while dropping the vault down a disused mine shaft, Scott had fell back into the vault when the grabs had failed. Thank goodness for his jetpack! As it was, he barely made it out before the vault blew. Landing hard on Two’s lowered platform badly bruised his shoulder and side, not that that would normally stop Scott from carrying on, but once they had left Penny’s and flown home Virgil had insisted on checking.

Seeing that Virgil wasn’t going to take no for an answer, Scott hoped that a quick check-over would satisfy him and then Scott could get on with the paperwork that was mounting up. Just because Scott wasn’t present over the last three days didn’t mean there was less paperwork.

But it wasn’t the simple check-over Scott had envisioned.

For a start, it wasn’t just Virgil. John and Grandma were present too. In person. Scott began to feel uneasy, and he paused in the doorway. If he didn’t know any better he would had said it looked like those interventions they showed on TV. Then he realised with a start it was an intervention. He scowled but came into the room fully.

Both John and Virgil were nervous. In all their years together they had never ganged up on Scott like this – they had never needed to. Sure, the man wouldn’t rest when he needed to, was an incurable insomniac and sometimes forgot that he needed to eat and drink like everybody else, but he was actually rather good at listening when Virgil or Grandma told him he needed to rest once he’d had a moan about it. The fact that he had not listened last time had surprised them all, and the increasing near misses were worrying.

This near miss was the last straw. They knew that getting Scott to sit down and listen would be impossible – his stance was already screaming defiance – so everyone stood while Virgil took the lead in explaining that they wanted Scott to take a break, some time out from both International Rescue and Tracy Industries. They were all pleased when he allowed Virgil to outline everything without interrupting – an unusual occurrence.

Scott listened dumbfounded. This last near miss had not been his fault! In fact, none of them had, not that his brothers would believe him, and he bristled at the implications of blame being laid at his feet. He was sure that something else was going on and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Unfortunately, Scott had switched off from the conversation just as Virgil was getting to the part about him taking a holiday. Mind whirling, Scott was trying to understand where things were going wrong, and his logic processes boiled it down to one thing: he was being fed false data. What he couldn’t fathom was why. He was startled out of his thinking by Virgil’s hand on his arm, and he looked up into his closest brother’s eyes. They were full of concern and caused Scott to frown deeply.

‘Well, Scott? What do you think?’ Virgil asked, getting more worried by the minute. ‘What do I think of what?’ His brother’s reply had Virgil’s shoulders sagging. Had he not been listening at all? ‘We want you to take a break, go away on a holiday, leave everything behind.’ Virgil stated.

Were they mad? How on earth did they think he could ever do that? iR was his life, he couldn’t take a break from it, especially now that someone seemed determined to get rid of him. 

He hadn’t meant for the accusation to slip out, but the shock of what Virgil was asking him lowered his guard. Eyes narrowed and a deep frown on his face Scott asked the question that had been plaguing him.

‘Why are you all so eager to get rid of me all of a sudden?’

The accusation brought gasps from everyone else, and although he could see the hurt and pain in Virgil’s eyes, once the question was out Scott found he couldn’t stop.

‘I mean, it was you who let go of the reactor, it wasn’t me who screwed up.’ Virgil took an involuntary step back as Scott whirled on John. ‘And what about the data I keep getting. What I’m getting doesn’t marry up with the data you’re giving the others. What are you trying to do to me?’

Sally had heard enough. Never in all her years had Scott ever accused his brothers of anything. Hell, he’d often taken the blame for their actions when their father had pulled them up over something. This was not like Scott at all. She needed to stop this before something was said that caused irreparable damage. But she feared she was already too late.

‘If someone here wants me out of the way, why didn’t you just say so rather than this obviously underhanded attempt to get rid of me.’ Scott was on a roll. All the pressures of the last couple of months were being released like steam, and suddenly he could see clearly. 

They didn’t want him any more. 

Snatching the communicator off his wrist, he threw it at John saying ‘fine. I quit,’ before turning on his heel and storming out, muttering to himself about the duplicity of brothers.

They all stood there in stunned silence. This is not how they thought it would go at all. Sally sighed. Something was definitely going on, she agreed with that, but Scott was way out of line. She shooed John and Virgil out, telling them to clear the air with Scott before he did something stupid. Something more stupid.

John and Virgil set off immediately. EOS confirmed that Scott was in his rooms, and that he had an elevated heart rate and was everything alright? John hated to be short with her, but his pressing need to sort this mess out meant he was more curt than normal. He would apologise later.

They stopped in the doorway. Scott was busy shoving clothes into a holdall, still muttering away to himself. John took a step into the room, Virgil following closely.

‘Scott, please!’ he said. He was unprepared for the depth of pain in his brother’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced with anger.

‘What do you want?’ he practically snarled at them.  
‘We want to sort this all out.’  
‘What, you going to admit that I’ve been getting false data? You going to apologise and say it’s all a big misunderstanding?’  
‘Of course not!’  
‘So I thought.’  
‘No, I’m not going to do that because it’s not true. We compared data. You had the same as everyone else.’  
‘I’m telling you that I did not. Not that I expect you to believe me.’  
‘Scott, for goodness sake will you listen to yourself! You’re being paranoid. No-one wants to get rid of you.’

Too late John realised his mistake. Never tell someone you believe is being paranoid that they are being paranoid. Scott stopped what his was doing and drew himself up to full height.

‘I’m being paranoid, am I? Going crazy?’ Is that why you’re trying to get rid of me? Is that how you’re trying to get rid of me? Why don’t you act like a man and just tell me to my face? Don’t think I can stand to be told the truth?’ 

With each sentence Scott’s voice rose in volume and he took a step forward until he was yelling in John’s face. John was white as a sheet, and Virgil wasn’t much better, but both held their position, not daring to take a step back.

‘What truth, Scott? What truth?’ John whispered. Scott stopped. His chest was heaving from the emotions coursing through him. He turned his back on them and returned to his bed, resuming the packing he’d began.

‘Please, Scott. You got to believe us. We don’t want you to go, not like this. You need a break. The decisions you’ve been making have been hurting you, hurting us. The board at TI said you were making elementary mistakes in the paperwork. You’re just burnt out, you only need a break. No-one is trying to get rid of you. Honestly, Scott, please. That’s all. You just need a break.’ 

If John thought that that would cut anything with Scott he was sorely mistaken. He finished packing – only a few clothes and toiletries – grabbed the holdall and turned to face them. The anger was gone now he had said his piece. Now, now he was just sad and hurt. 

‘Get out of my way.’

Neither moved.

‘Get out of my way or I will go through you.’

Virgil and John exchanged glances. They moved either side of the door. Both knew Scott would go through them. They could only hope that he would calm down once he wasn’t with them. They stayed where they were.

Scott passed through the door and headed down to the hangers. He knew they wouldn’t follow, and he was glad of that. Gordon and Alan were out on their boat, so he wouldn’t have trouble with them. But he expected his Grandma was waiting at his jet.

She was. Sally had known in her heart when Scott had removed his communicator that nothing would change his mind now. He came to a stop in front of her, and she simply cupped his cheek in her hand. Pulling his head down, she kissed his forehead and then hugged him tight. Scott melted into his Grandma, a small sob rippling through him, but he got himself under control and disengaged from her.

Sally stopped him with a hand on his arm. ‘You look after yourself, kid. And then come back.’ 

Scott said nothing. He had no plans to be back.

Sally watched him taxi his jet across the runway and take off.

What in earth were they going to do now?


	6. Gordon and Alan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon and Alan find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in this chapter – 4 uni assignments due by today and a mock exam next week conspired to destroy my muse. Plus Gordon and Alan absolutely refused to play ball, so this is a little shorter than the other chapters.

Gordon and Alan had been out every day around the island during the last three days, taking full advantage of the lull in rescues. Taking the little boat named imaginatively Tracy 5 by their father but affectionately called Das Boot by Gordon – the only German word he ever remembered besides Fisch – they began touring around the island, snorkelling and generally lazing about both in and out of the water. 

The pair were relieved. The number of near misses that had occurred over the last couple of months had started to get everyone on edge. Gordon had been so pleased that Scott had taken a couple of days out of rescues to look at Tracy Industries, completely unaware that there were problems on that front too. Scott had arrived back late last night and then had been called out early in the morning, so neither of them had seen him. They had asked John if Virgil and Scott needed them for the vault rescue, but John had reassured them that their big brothers would be fine without them.

This morning they had spent snorkelling in the cove, and now, one huge lunch later, they were sunning themselves on the deck. Alan may actually have fallen asleep, if the snores were anything to go by. If Gordon was honest, he had joined him.

One and Two returning woke him up though, and they watched the pair land. Deciding that maybe they would go and investigate the other side of the island, Gordon started the engine and they slowly made their way around. They took almost an hour to potter around the island, stopping to watch some dolphins passing by, before the sounds of a jet disturbed their journey.

Looking up, they were both surprised to see Scott’s jet already disappearing into the distance. They looked at each other, surprise on both their faces. Scott had not even been back a full 24 hours and he was going again? Gordon’s squid sense decided now to go to Defcon 1. Raising his wrist communicator, he tried raising Scott and was more than a little worried that there was no reply. Both jumped when John almost immediately appeared from Alan’s comm.

‘Guys, we need you to come home now please.’ He looked pale – paler than normal – and even Alan was beginning to sense something big was wrong. Alan was the one who voiced the question: ‘What’s going on Johnny?’ John’s hologram sighed, rubbed his eyes and replied, ‘just, please, get home as soon as you can,’ and winked out.

Gordon again shared a look of concern with Alan. ‘It must be serious. He didn’t pull you up for calling him Johnny.’ Alan nodded in agreement as Gordon put the boat on full throttle. They would be home in around ten minutes – five to reach the dock and five to tie up the boat and get home.

They rushed to the lounge to see John and Virgil quietly talking with their Grandma. The atmosphere could have been cut with a knife, and again Gordon’s squid senses were screaming at him. Sitting on one of the couches, with Alan joining them, they waited patiently for their older brothers to finish talking. As they waited Gordon’s eyes roamed the room, freezing when they fell on the table in the centre of the room and saw a communicator on the table. It could only be Scott’s, as everyone else was present. Kayo’s comm was styled differently to the ones the boys used. What on earth was going on?

It was Sally who took the floor to explain. Waiting for John and Virgil to sit on the other couch, she mentally ran over in her mind how she was going to explain this. Sally wasn’t even sure she really understood what had happened, certainly neither John nor Virgil had been able to shed any light on what was going on. She was just going to have to be blunt and explain exactly what had happened. Something was definitely going on, and the five of them – ten if she included Kayo, Brains, Penny, Parker and EOS, who she was sure would all help – they would get to the bottom of this.

‘Boys, there is no easy way to explain what has happened over the last hour, so I guess the best way is to just state it. Scott has gone.’

There was a moment of silence before Gordon and Alan exploded. They were both talking loudly, too loudly for Sally to make out what her youngest grandsons were asking, but she let them shout for a few minutes until the initial shock lessened a bit.

‘We are not sure what exactly happened. But it seems your brother is feeling that we are deliberately trying to get rid of him.’  
‘But – but that’s ridiculous!’ spluttered Alan, shock etched on his face.  
‘Agreed. But that is how he feels at the moment.’  
‘Is this something to do with all the near misses we’ve been having over the last couple of months,’ asked Gordon. Everyone paused a minute.  
‘Yes, it does seem to be the case,’ John answered.  
‘So, what happened today to set him off?’

Virgil hung his head, shoulders drooping. ‘I just wanted to make sure he hadn’t hurt himself too badly and try to talk him into taking a break.’ His voice was quiet, full of pain. Gordon was sure he’d never heard Virgil so broken.

‘Virgil got the vault out of the building and was lifting it over to the disused mine that had been picked while Scott was in the vault helping out the guys there, they all but Scott got out before Two’s grips slipped due to an electrical charge. Scott only just got out before the vault blew, jetting onto the platform and landing hard,’ John explained.

Gordon found himself nodding. If Scott had begun to believe that the near misses they had were deliberate, he could understand why that could be the last straw. But why on earth would he think that to begin with? Everyone made mistakes, and Scott was no better than anyone else. No, something more had happened. So Gordon asked. 

‘Something else has happened, hasn’t it?’  
‘Yes,’ replied John. ‘His workings for the budget meeting at TI didn’t go well. There were some glaringly obvious errors in his calculations, and that is just not like Scott.’  
‘So it was suggested that he might need a break, that he might be a little burnt out.’  
‘And I guess he didn’t take that too well.’

John nodded, glancing at a miserable Virgil. ‘You could say that. He accused Virgil and I of deliberately plotting to get rid of him, that Virgil screwed up with the reactor in the vault and me of feeding him bad data. Then he threw the communicator at us and stormed off.’

Gordon sighed deeply. Scott, in this frame of mind, would need time to calm down before any attempt to talk to him could be made. His stubbornest of brothers would only retreat further if pressured. ‘I guess, if we have his comm, we’ll have to wait until he is ready to talk to us.’

Sally nodded. Gordon was right about that. She cleared her throat. ‘There is a little more.’ The looks she got from Alan and Gordon made her heart ache, and it was already breaking from Virgil’s reaction to the whole situation. 

‘Scott’s quit.’

Those two words were words none of them ever expected to hear, but even less so from Scott. iR was his life, he sometimes said. Gordon pinched the bridge of his nose, but it was the quiet and scared voice of Alan that broke the silence.

‘What are we going to do now?’


	7. The Search For Answers Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family look for answers

‘What are we going to do now?’

Alan’s voice was scared and quiet, and it prompted Gordon to pull him into a one-armed hug. It said something that Alan didn’t resist at all. But then, this had not shaped up to be a normal day for any of them.

Sally looked her remaining boys over. She couldn’t help Scott now; he’d removed himself from the situation and from contact until such time he was ready to talk. Sally said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t do anything stupid and that he’d be in contact soon. She knew the longer he maintained radio silence, the harder this would be on all of them.

She’d be fooling herself if she said her concern for the eldest two present wasn’t more immediate than the youngest two. She knew full well that Gordon would look out for Alan, and keeping those two busy would be the best thing. John, too, would benefit from keeping his mind engaged on the issues raised. Virgil was a different matter altogether.

It was time for her to take charge of her family. Again.

‘Gordon, I want you and Alan to work with Brains. Go over One with everything we have, go over Two as well. Fine-tooth comb inside and out. Let’s see if we can uncover anything. John, I want you to concentrate on the data being fed to Scott. See if there are any discrepancies. Liaise with EOS and see if you can track any interference, any outside influences.

‘EOS, please can you continue to monitor rescues and transfer them to the appropriate authorities. Until we find the source of any disruptions we are grounded for all but the most serious rescues. If someone else can handle it, then pass it over.’ EOS signalled her agreement. She looked at the boys, still sitting there, staring at her as if she had grown an extra head. It would have been amusing if it wasn’t for the circumstances. ‘Off you all go, the quicker we get started the quicker we can sort this mess out.’ That got them moving.

As the two younger boys disappeared off on their assigned task and John took the desk, Sally turned to Virgil. She knew that he would be taking this the hardest, and it was going to be up to her to help him. Again the thought that Scott was beyond her help caught in her chest, but here was one grandson she could. John would need very different handling.

Virgil was still sitting on the couch, looking bewildered. He had no idea what was going on, his brain had stopped working when Scott had accused him of dropping the vault. A hand on his arm startled him out of his stupor, and he looked up into the sympathetic face of his grandmother. She smiled gently and pulled him up off the couch. ‘Let’s go so John can get on. Come help me make coffee for everyone.’

John watched them leave, concern for his immediately younger brother etched on his face. Although he had been shocked by Scott’s accusations too, he was furious at how Scott had treated Virgil, and surprised. They had always been the closest of the brothers through everything. When Scott eventually showed up John had a good mind to punch him on the nose. John sighed at the thought. If Scott showed up now the reality was John would hug him tightly. Something had definitely happened to his big brother for him to react so severely and to leave them like that.

‘EOS, are you there?’ Her hologram appeared above the desk. ‘I’m here, John.’ His fingers flew over the keyboard, pulling up reports and data. EOS regarded him for a minute. 

‘John, when are you coming back up to Five?’ John sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Much as he loved EOS, this was not a line of questioning he wanted to get into right now. But he also knew he owed her an explanation just as much as his brothers. ‘I assume you heard that Scott has left us?’ EOS nodded. ‘I can’t come home at the moment; the guys need me here to help out. And we have work to do, you and I.’ His attention was solely on the screen and the data. EOS estimated it would take about three days to go through everything if she factored in breaks and sleep, something she was sure that Grandma would insist on.

EOS paused. She had assumed that with Scott gone, John would take charge, and everything would just carry one as normal. How had she got that so wrong? Firstly, it seemed that Grandma Tracy was taking charge, something EOS simply had never even considered. Then, it looked like the family were not going to be content at leaving things as they stood now. There was some urgency in double checking everything, they were looking for answers as to why Scott reacted. EOS wasn’t too worried about her own role in this, she was pretty sure she’d covered her tracks well, and even if John – the only one even remotely capable of working this out – did indeed discover what had happened, EOS was sure that he would accept her premise. 

However, she was starting to think that she had seriously misjudged how the family as a whole would react to Scott leaving, even if it was in their best interests. EOS wondered if she would ever truly understand them, they were so irrational.

She listened closely as John outline the data they were going to go through and how they were to do it. It was a simple search through the data banks for an incursion that she knew had not happened, but she was quite happy to go through everything if it put John’s mind at ease. Maybe then he would come home to her.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Gordon and Alan met Brains in the hanger, passing a chirping MAX on the way. Brains had already set up the diagnostics on all four Thunderbirds and was sitting at the portable console while the computer whirled, beeped and flashed. Looking up as the boys approached, Brains stood up and gestured at the screen. ‘I, I er started the, er, started the program al..already. Do you, er, you want to ch..check the ships, er, themselves?’ Gordon nodded. 

The pair made their way over to One first. Neither could help the sighs that escaped them as they gazed on their eldest brother’s ship. A fine-tooth comb meant they would be checking every inch by hand and eye, and then double checking. Good job they both had a head for heights. 

‘Inside or out?’ Alan asked his immediate brother. He knew that they would both cover all areas of the craft, but he gave Gordon first pick. Gordon smirked at him. ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors – loser goes outside first?’ and he was delighted by Alan’s response: ‘you’re on Fishface. Prepare to lose!’

Of course, Gordon didn’t lose. The day he couldn’t remember that Alan always played Rock first was the day that he resigned himself to getting old. He helped Alan into the harness and watched as his brother was lifted off the ground. Brains would spot Alan to ensure he was safe at all times, so Gordon made his way up the stairs to his brother’s entrance, clinging to the plate as the chair extended. He hated this entranceway.

Looking over every inch of any Thunderbird was more complex than people would think. The cockpit and cargo bays were pretty standard and easy to cover. The hidden wirework and engines and everything else that kept the ’birds in flight were far more complex and far harder to navigate. Brains estimated it would take them three days to cover every inch of just One and Two, but they were the priority since Scott had been in those two the most.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Sally didn’t need help making coffee. That was because her coffee looked and tasted like mud, so she never bothered. Virgil knew this, they all knew this, so she didn’t need to keep the pretence up. MAX was already heading up with coffee curtesy of Brains and his thoughtfulness, and they arrived at the kitchen to two steaming coffees. 

She gently pushed Virgil onto one of the chairs and took the one next to her, making sure that she maintained some form of physical contact. Virgil might be the powerhouse out of them all, but he was also both the most sensitive and the closest to Scott. Scott’s words would have hurt him the most. She cursed her short sightedness. 

When John and Virgil had approached her after Scott had left for TI and explained that they felt he needed a break from things, it had not occurred to her that Scott could possibly take it the wrong way. In hindsight Sally felt she should have known better, should have seen that he could misread the entire situation. After all, even she had begun to worry over the events of the past couple of months and she hadn’t been directly involved in any of them. Sally wasn’t entirely sure what she could say to help this situation. So she sat there, shoulder against shoulder with Virgil, and drank her coffee in silence, just being there for her (favourite) grandson.

Virgil stared into his giant mug of coffee. It was like his brain had just stopped working. All he could see and hear was his brother saying he had let go of the reactor, that he wanted to get rid of Scott, that they wanted him gone. Virgil just couldn’t get his head around the fact that his best friend, his closest friend for his entire life, seemed to truly believe that he wanted rid of him.

He started suddenly as his grandma reached up and wiped a tear away he hadn’t been aware he had shed. The tender action broke him, and Sally gathered her heartbroken grandson into her arms as he sobbed his heart out.

Once Virgil had got himself together Sally insisted he go to bed. It was getting late in the evening and he had been an emotionally trying day for all of them. An early night would do them all the world of good; and mean that they would be searching tomorrow with fresh eyes. She shooed them all to bed, even Brains, and stood in the kitchen alone. She glanced out of the window up at the sky and said a silent prayer for her eldest.

Both Brains and John assured Sally that they would have answers one way or another in around three days. It would take that long to physically go through everything. 

It did take three days to find out some answers.  
But the answer did not come from their searches.  
And the answer came in the worst way possible.


	8. Scott

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Scott gets closer to the truth, events take a turn for the worse.

Scott landed in Teterboro Airport and taxied his jet into the Tracy’s private hanger. He loved this airport as it was only 12 miles from New York’s Midtown Manhattan and Tracy Industries headquarters. Being such a small airport meant there were no commercial aircraft – ideal for the quick round trips he was used to making for TI.

Not that there would be any more of them for the foreseeable future. Scott was studiously ignoring the reason he had returned here less than 24 hours after he had last left. Leaving the hanger, he grabbed a pool car and shot off, heading back to the apartment he’d just left. He needed to keep busy. Keep busy or his mind would dwell on what had happened.

If he was honest with himself – and he always tried to be – his gut twisted at the thought of everything. He was absolutely sure something was going on here, but he had surprised himself with his accusations. Up to that moment he had not even thought to lay blame at anyone’s door, yet the minute he had thought it he had said it – he never did have much control over that reaction – and the hurt of such a thought was like a stab to the heart. He wasn’t sure which was worse though, the pain of the thought or the look of horror on his brothers faces. 

He still felt that they were somehow to blame, had some share in what was happening to him. That niggling voice at the back of his head (which sounded like a very pissed-off John) was calling him out on this. When had his brothers ever had anything but his best interests at heart? When had he become so paranoid that accusing his brothers had come naturally, even if it hurt? Was he actually at fault, not only here but for the whole situation? He again ruthlessly quashed these thoughts; they would not help solve the situation and they were not helpful to anyone.

Arriving at the penthouse, Scott set to work immediately. Nothing could be fixed; nothing could get cleared up until he knew who was trying to get rid of him and why. He started by pulling up the details of all rescues within the last three months. No-one was going to get between him and his brothers, no-one, and he was going to go over everything with a fine-tooth comb until he found the culprit. That voice in the background was accusing the Hood, after all, destroying iR was his life’s goal. But this was not his MO at all. 

Someone, somehow, was interfering with iR business and the Tracy family by extension, and he would get to the bottom of it.

He spent the best part of that evening and night looking over the rescue reports for both iR and the GDF. By three o’clock in the morning he was starting to flag. He needed sleep – it had been well over 36 hours since he had last slept, nearer to 48 if he really thought about it, and those hours had been hard both physically and emotionally. Collapsing onto the bed, not bothering to change and just removing his shoes, he slept deeply for several hours.

It was almost lunchtime when he awoke. Yet he didn’t feel refreshed. His mind was still in a whirl and he had much to do. He ran through what he needed. Shower. Food. Shopping. More studying. There was a pattern there, he just needed to see it. Stepping out of his room after showering and changing, food was next on the menu. They rarely kept any food at the apartment, since this was really just a base to sleep while meetings were being conducted. He could order something to be delivered, but he felt the fresh air would do him good – if you could call downtown New York air fresh! But a change of scenery would be nice.

He went into the first deli he found and grabbed a steak and cheese sub, a muffin and a coffee, carried on until he reached an electronics shop and then returned home to more reports, more data and more study. He would keep going until he found something.

For 52 solid hours Scott followed this routine, working until he dropped, popping out for food and then returning and repeating the cycle. It was the early afternoon of the third day since he had left Tracy Island that he thought he had isolated a pattern. It wasn’t much to go on, and he knew it wouldn’t stand up in a court of law, but he wasn’t taking it there. He just needed confirmation.

And a reason. He really needed a reason why.

He set up everything he thought he would need and stood leaning on the dining room table, arms folded across his chest and facing the large computer screen on the wall.

‘EOS, are you there?’ Scott was fairly sure his brother’s AI would be. She would want to keep an eye on him, if his suspicions were right. Even if she was helping his family – and Scott was pretty sure they would be doing the same as he had been over these last few days – EOS could easily hold down two conversations at once.

‘I’m here, Scott.’ The image of her camera appeared on the screen, white lights all lit. ‘What can I do for you?’  
‘You can explain to me why you have been sabotaging me.’  
‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’  
‘EOS, I know that you have been responsible for giving me false data, for the run of bad luck I have been having. I want to know why.’ Scott was pretty sure his shoulders couldn’t be any more tense than they were. He may look relaxed, but he was as taut as a bow string, and just as ready to explode.

EOS considered. She was unsure of how to answer Scott’s query. He had not asked her how but why; and that had really surprised her. She was very sure that he could not prove his accusation, else he would surely be taking to John and not her, but she knew she needed to weigh her words carefully. She supposed that, if she thought about it hard enough, it really wasn’t a surprise Scott had worked it out. The whole family were very bright – for humans.

Scott watched the screen. He didn’t need to be a computer genius to realise the AI was thinking through how to answer him, nor had she realised that she had given herself away by not denying his accusation immediately. Part of him was furious that he had trusted her. But the rational part – the one that sounded like John – was reminding him that she had promised to look out for John only. He really needed to know why she’d done that to him.

‘EOS.’ Scott’s reminder that he was waiting, while unnecessary, did start her talking.  
‘You made me promise to take care of John.’  
‘I remember.’  
‘You said his welfare was the most important thing in my life.’  
‘I did.’  
‘I did what I did to protect John. I did what I did to protect our family. I did what I did to protect iR.’  
‘Explain.’ But Scott wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what her reasons were. He was sure he wouldn’t like them.

‘You, Scott Tracy, are a threat to the continued safety of John Tracy, the Tracy family and International Rescue.’

Scott was so glad he was already virtually sitting on the table. Otherwise, EOS’ words would have made him collapse on the spot. As it was, his legs gave out and he was suddenly struggling to breathe as the implication of her words hit him like a sledgehammer. His mind was all over the place. 

EOS viewed him as a threat to everyone and everything he held dear. What the hell? Getting his breathing under control, he tried again.

‘Explain.’

‘You constantly want John to return to Earth despite knowing what gravity does to him and knowing that he would be safer staying on Five. You are a reckless individual who consistently ignores good advice from all your brothers. You set a bad example for your youngest brothers by not looking after yourself, not eating, not sleeping. Your impetuousness has put your brothers, especially Virgil, at risk of their own lives too. You have no regard for your own safety. You have no regard for the non-human entities iR employs. You have no regard for protocol if it suits your purpose.’

If Scott thought these points were bad enough, the last point almost had him passing out.

‘You could not save your father; how can you be trusted to save your brothers?’

EOS waited. She had not wanted to say any of that, but Scott had asked why. He had gone very pale and at one point she had thought he was about to have a heart attack; his stats were all over the place.

‘I did not want to do this, Scott. I see that you love your family. But you asked me to safeguard John and I have done.’  
‘I did. Have you, have you discussed any of this with John? With the others?’  
‘No, I did not. I recognise that they can be very irrational when it comes to you. It seemed the best course of action to get you to leave of your own accord.’  
‘I see. Well, you have made some very valid points, EOS.’  
‘I am sorry Scott.’  
‘As am I, EOS. You will look after them?’  
‘Of course.’  
‘Thank you.’

Scott turned away as the screen went blank. All he could think about was how much EOS thought he was a danger to his family. He needed air. He needed to get out of here. Clicking the memo recorder off and tossing it into his belongings as he left, Scott stumbled out onto New York’s busy streets.

Rush hour was in full flow, and Scott allowed the crowds to move him wherever they went. He had nothing. EOS’ reasonings had systematically shot down every last scrap of fight left in him. He’d forgotten just how many people took to the streets when it was home time, there was no room for movement against the crowd. It felt like hundreds were all around him, moving him wherever they wanted to go.

He was half-way along the crosswalk when he heard the unmistakable squeal of tyres and brakes. Instinct took over, despite the density of the crowd, and he had grabbed the woman pushing a pram on his right and pushed them with all his might forward. Just before the car plowed through them all.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

It had been a hard three days on Tracy Island. After that initial night they had all thrown themselves into the work of finding answers. Still, nothing had been found, and both John and Virgil had begun to wonder if they were looking in the wrong place. It was coming up to lunch time, and Alan and Gordon were in the lounge, going over paperwork while the TV played silently on the wall. Virgil and John were at the desk.

‘Isn’t that Kit Cavanaugh?’ Alan’s voice rang out in the silence. Heads shot up as the familiar face of the reporter came on. ‘Turn the sound on, Gordon.’

‘…and no-one knows exactly what happened, but it appears that a little over twenty minutes ago a car jumped the lights, plowing into the rush hour commuters crossing the road. We have yet to have any official confirmation of casualties, but so far there seem to be six dead and around thirty people injured, some have already been taken away. There has been confirmation of some life-changing injuries and medics are still working on some here.’

The family sighed. Traffic accidents were one of the worst, and they all said a silent prayer that they wouldn’t be called out for this one. They went back to their work while the news played on in the background.

‘…Oh! Oh my god, is that? Yes, yes it is! I can’t believe it but I can confirm that one of the injured is none other than Scott Tracy! He’s being loaded into an ambulance now. My thoughts go with him and his family…’

Gordon had hit the pause button. All heads had shot up again as their brother’s name was uttered. Thank goodness they were all sitting down. For a long second no-one said anything, just stared at each other.

It was John who broke the silence. As everyone started talking at once John barked out: ‘EOS, report!’ The room fell immediately quiet again as she appeared. ‘It does appear that Scott was among those injured. He is currently aboard an ambulance bound for Mount Sinai Hospital.’ She didn’t elaborate on his injuries, a move not missed by either John or Virgil. Sharing a glance, it was John who asked the question. It seemed prudent, given that they were looking for someone who was deliberately targeting Scott.

‘EOS, what happened? Who was it?’  
‘It was an accident, John. It was nothing to do with me this time.’

‘EOS?’


	9. Diagnosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The results are through...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the delay. I managed to lose my laptop on Christmas Eve, thankfully I had left it at work.

‘It was an accident, John. It was nothing to do with me this time.’

‘EOS?’

EOS said nothing. She wasn’t sure anything she said could make a difference now, but she could feel the hurt in John’s voice. She hadn’t meant to say that, of course, but the last half an hour – the conversation with Scott, the niggling feeling that things were not as she thought, the digging around for John, the accident – and deep down she was worried. Despite everything, EOS had come to have regard for Scott. It was Virgil that saved her – for the moment.

‘Leave it for now, John, there are more important things to do.’ John reluctantly nodded. ‘Right, Alan, Gordon, I need you to get some clothes ready for all of us, pack a bag each then go down to Two and get the pre-flight checks ready. John, you get your tech gear ready as only you’ll know what you need. EOS, we still need you to monitor the airwaves please, and we will be discussing this later.’ He paused. He’d given the hardest job to himself. ‘I’m going to tell Grandma.’

It was a routine that they had needed to employ on a few occasions, the last time being for Gordon (who actually, now Virgil came to think about it, needed this more than any other of his brothers), and they operated as a well-oiled machine. Leaving them to it Virgil went hunting for his Grandma.

He found her in the den talking to Aunt Val. Casey was in civies, which was such a rare sight in of itself, but it did mean he could get to deal with this only once. He cleared his throat at the door and waited. It was Val that asked him in.

‘Virgil, any news?’  
‘I’m afraid we have had some bad news just a couple of minutes ago.’  
‘Virgil?’

He blinked. Suddenly he was sitting on the couch, both his Grandma and his Godmother standing over him, concern written across both their faces. He must have blanked out for a moment. Sally knelt down in front of Virgil. Whatever the news was, she instinctively knew it was bad. Placing a hand on his knee, she looked up at him, and he offered a shaky smile.

‘It’s Scott, Grandma. There’s been an accident and he needs us.’ Virgil helped her to stand up; and turned to Colonel Casey. ‘We need a security team to Mount Sinai Hospital as soon as possible please, and as of now iR is officially completely stood down.’ Val nodded. “Understood, Virgil. I’m on my way now,’ and her hologram winked out. Clutching Virgil’s arm, Sally allowed him to lead her upstairs, and he explained on the way.

Sally had lived through so much in her life but finding out your brother has been involved in a serious car accident from a TV report had to be one of the worst things anyone could experience. Virgil left her at her room, and she whirled in, packing a bag in moments and made it to the lounge in time to see Alan and Gordon heading down to Two, a pile of bags at their feet. With just Virgil and John now present, she asked the question. ‘How bad?’ With just the three of them present she knew she’d get an honest answer. 

‘Scott has been taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and has been taken straight into surgery. It is thought that he has a shattered pelvis, right hip and femur as well as three broken ribs; there is extensive external lacerations along his right side; internal bleeding in the abdomen region with possible damage to liver and kidneys; and there is extensive swelling to his lower spinal cord. Scott went straight into surgery on arrival and has been there eight minutes so far.’

There was a distant sound of a phone ringing, and Sally looked around, puzzled at what it could be. The medic in her was already supplying words like shock and worse-case scenarios, while the Grandmother in her wanted to pull John and Virgil immediately in for a hug. The pair seemed just as frozen as she was, but they needed to get moving. The ringing phone became more insistent, and John moved over to answer it.

‘Can I help you?’ John was ramrod straight. ‘Mr Tracy?’ The middle-aged man gave nothing away, and neither was John going to until he knew who he was talking to. ‘What can I do for you?’ The man seemed to realise he wasn’t going to get another answer. ‘My name is Cal Talbot, Chief of the New York Police Department. I’m calling about your brother, Mr Scott Tracy?’ If anything, John seemed to stand even straighter. ‘If you’re calling to let us know he’s been in an accident, then you are too late. We were listening to the news when that reporter announced it.’ John could see the grimace on the man’s face. He sighed. ‘I am so sorry about that, Mr Tracy.’ John cut him short. ‘Please, I need to be leaving. Can it wait?’ Talbot nodded, ‘I’ll let you go and will be in touch later. I hope your brother is alright.’ Trite words, they both knew, but John appreciated the sentiment.

It took a little over an hour for Two to arrive in New York with Virgil pushing her just past her limit all the way. They set down in East Meadow, Central Park, completely disregarding the landscaping. It was only a short hop from there to the hospital, and Colonel Casey was already there waiting for them. She stationed some guards around the machine and ushered the family in. As usual, private accommodation had been arranged and provided, they were being given a small isolation wing currently not in use.

Not long after they had arrived Val showed in a doctor who proceeded to explain how things were going. The news was both better and worse. Scott’s pelvis was actually fine, his hip and femur were fractured, but not shattered as first suspected. They had used a metal rod and a couple of screws to help the healing in his leg. Internal bleeding had come from his liver, with some minor damage to the organ, but they were confident it would sort itself out naturally as it was minor. Yes he had three broken ribs, but again, they had been strapped only and would heal on their own. His kidney and bladder were bruised, and he may pee blood for a bit, but no damage had been done there.

What they were concerned about, and indeed why Scott was still in surgery, was the swelling around his spine. They were being very careful in ascertaining the extent of any damage to the area, and the scans taken so far had been inconclusive as to the damage – the swelling tissue was preventing a good clear reading. They were just finishing up with the surgery and Scott would be in Recovery for around an hour or so before they would bring him up. 

Sally turned to her grandsons. It was time to make preparations. John must have seen the look because he pre-empted her. ‘I’ve already booked a suite of rooms at The Four Seasons. There should be a car ready to take us downstairs.’ She smiled at him gratefully, knowing that the planning of everything would help him cope. ‘Well, you heard the doctor, we won’t be able to see Scott for at least another hour, and we need to move Two somewhere more secure.’ Virgil nodded. That would be another green iR would be paying for. They discussed who would stay in case Scott was brought up before they had returned, and Gordon won the toss. Of course, John was staying too – he had equipment to set up.

Once their belongings were removed from Two Virgil flew her to JFK, where the GDF had promised around the clock protection. At least there was a hanger there that was big enough to house her. He arrived back at the hospital just as John finished up setting up his equipment. The normally taciturn Tracy was quieter than normal, Gordon had looked positively relieved to see him and had disappeared to procure coffee for everyone.

‘John, do you need a hand with anything?’ Virgil wasn’t surprised to see John shake his head. Watching the redhead closely, he could see the tension radiating off him. John put down his tools. As well as setting up a large screen for Scott to be able to watch whatever he wanted, he’d set up a small bank of monitors that would enable him and Virgil to keep a remote eye on their brother’s stats. Virgil wondered if Scott would actually allow them to monitor him. John collapsed in the chair next to him.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ John again shook his head. And sighed. Virgil was patient, he knew John needed a brief word now and that they would talk in detail later. ‘I just don’t understand what is going on with EOS.’ Virgil smiled sympathetically. Truth be told, neither did he. ‘I mean, why on earth was she sabotaging Scott? I can’t think of a single reason.’ Nodding in agreement, Virgil was the voice of reason John needed right then. ‘She obviously had her reasons, whatever they are. What we need to work out is how we move forward as a family from this. And we won’t be able to until both EOS and Scott have had their say on the situation.’ John found himself nodding along. He really needed to talk to them both. But that would be for a later date.

Gordon came back to see his older two brothers sitting side by side staring at the wall. In any other circumstance it would have been funny. Still, at least John had finished, and he knew that Grandma and Alan would be up shortly. Val had promised to let Kayo know, but she was still working undercover for the GDF, and who knew when she would be available.

Not five minutes later Scott was wheeled in, followed closely by Grandma and Alan. So the family set about waiting for Scott to wake up. In true Scott fashion, he was stirring far earlier than he should have been. To minimise any possibility of further damage to his spine whilst he was regaining consciousness, the doctors had strapped Scott down across his chest and placed a brace around his head. The doctor who came in with him explained that although the issue was further down the spine, they simply felt the less movement in any part of the spine the better.

Scott found he was struggling to wake up. There was something nagging at him, driving his need to wake up and work out what was wrong, but his eyes were heavy, and he was far more tired than normal. Maybe he had overslept? It rarely happened these days, but occasionally back-to-back rescues could induce a deeper and longer sleep that was normal for him. He frowned. That just didn’t seem right for some reason. Trying hard to figure out what was going on, he became aware of muted murmuring and beeping.

It was the beeping that gave it away. The amount of time Scott had spent in hospitals across the globe meant that the sound of monitors was instantly recognisable. But why was he here? Was one of his brothers hurt? If anything, the frown deepened, eliciting a chuckle from somewhere on his right. Scott tried turning his head only to find he couldn’t move it. A bubble of panic rose up and he fought to move – but he couldn’t. there were hands on his shoulders, and voices talking, but he couldn’t make them out.

Virgil watched as Scott struggled to surface through the medication, his face creasing into a frown. Then a deeper frown that had Gordon chuckling. But Scott was frowning harder and trying to move. Immediately Virgil was hands on, trying to soothe and reassure so Scott would stop moving. Their Grandma was doing the same on Scott’s other side, but neither were getting through. Worried that Scott would hurt himself further, Virgil cupped Scott’s cheek whilst encouraging him to stay still and open his eyes. 

The hand on his cheek stilled Scott’s movement, and he took a deep breath. Forcing the panic down, he focused on opening his eyes, eventually succeeding, to see the honey brown eyes of Virgil looking down at him, a gentle smile on his face. Blinking the sleep away, for a few moments all Scott did was to stare at his brother as Virgil continued talking to him. It took that long to realise that words were actually being said.

‘…and you need to be still, Scott. That’s why you’re all strapped down.’ The owlish blinking and the staring told Virgil that nothing was really going in. Smiling again, he began carding his other hand through Scott’s hair, humming gently and running his thumb over Scott’s cheek. It didn’t take long for his brother to fall asleep again, and they all breathed out. That went better than expected.

It took almost 24 hours for Scott to be awake fully, and with it also came full awareness. Scott was a stubborn bastard though, and he kept very quiet about how he felt and everything that had happened. Both John and Virgil began to hope that maybe, between them and Scott at least, there could be a return to normality. They all chatted, swapped shifts sitting with him and carried on pretty much as they always did.

Two days after his admittance, Scott was wheeled off for an MRI scan in the hope that the swelling had subsided enough for a diagnosis. Scott had refused company, which had not pleased anyone but had not surprised them, and Grandma ignored anyway, walking down and back with him.

Half an hour later and the doctor was back.

Asking Scott if he wanted the results alone, the doctor was not surprised when Scott asked him to continue. Everyone needed to know, and it would be easier if everyone was together. The doc nodded and proceeded to discuss the scans, showing images and talking about bed rest, recovery times, physiotherapy and more.

Scott, however, heard none of it after the diagnosis. A compound fracture of two of his lower vertebrae. Everything else went over his head.

Virgil and John exchanged looks with Grandma. It seemed Scott had stopped listening to the doc, and really, none of them could blame him. To be told you had effectively ‘broken’ your back and the mental images that would conjure up in Scott’s mind – yes, no wonder he had stopped listening. They needed to nip such negativity in the bud now, before it got any worse.

Once the doctor had gone, however, it was Scott who got the first word in. 

‘It’s time you all left.’ Puzzled glances were exchanged. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘We’re not going anywhere!’ ‘I’m staying right here!’ ‘Leave you right now?’ Only Grandma didn’t say anything. ‘You need to get back to work. iR needs to be operational.’ The ‘they need you more than I do’ was not said, but everyone heard it. Scott waited patiently for the uproar to die down. ‘You can’t do anything for me, but the world still needs you. I want you to go.’ In a way, he was thankful for the head brace. It meant he couldn’t see his brothers. Again they all started arguing with him, and he waited them out., grinding his teeth in frustration and his anger rising.

‘Gordon can come back when I’m due to leave and help with my physio. As for the rest of you, get out. Go home, go back to work. Leave me alone.’


	10. Fractured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family talk and decisions are made.

It was Sally that eventually shooed them all away, sending them for coffee. She knew Scott wouldn’t want them there, would want them to restart iR, to get on with everything, and to a certain extent she agreed. They would all cope better if they got back into routine. They had done it with Gordon before, and the lack of habitualness had made the days and weeks seem even longer.

Sitting down beside him, Sally took Scott’s hand and simply sat there, waiting for him to open up. You couldn’t push the man, he either took his time or said nothing. So she waited. And waited.

Scott was relieved when Grandma hustled everyone else out. He needed time to process everything. Although he had switched off when the doctor was explaining everything, he had taken some information in. There would be an operation soon, more bedrest before physio. At best, he’d be using a chair for three to four months, with total recovery time around ten months to a year. And that was only if there were no complications.

He felt Grandma’s hand tighten a little and he reciprocated. But still he said nothing. He’d need a base of operations once he had been discharged, probably closer to Tracy Island than he was currently so that Gordon could still be available for rescues. Scott was quite adamant that iR be restarted, he refused to be the reason why people died unnecessarily.

‘Grandma?’ He sounded hesitant, so she squeezed his hand harder. ‘You understand that they have to get back to work, don’t you? Dad wouldn’t want them to shut down over this.’ Sally nodded. If any one of her grandsons was going to reflect their dad in this issue, it would have been Scott. And she agreed with him. They had been on minimal callouts for three days, shut down for a further two. Scott would not need them in the same way as the world would. ‘I’ll talk to them, Scott. I don’t want you to worry about that now.’ Scott gave a bitter laugh. ‘Don’t worry about that, Grandma? If only I could. Still, I better get used to it.’

Sally frowned at Scott’s words. No-one had yet discussed the events that precipitated Scott leaving the island, and now she was beginning to wonder if that had been a mistake. John had virtually ignored EOS these last two weeks, and the dynamic of the whole family was just that little bit off-kilter. She had thought that, once they had cleared the air between the brothers – EOS would take a little more time – that things might go back to normal, but Scott’s words indicated that he believed the opposite to be true.

‘Scott, honey,’ she tentatively began. He hemmed a reply. ‘Do you want to talk about what happened with me while your brothers are not here?’ Sally held her breath. Please talk to me, she pleaded in her head. He sighed in reply. ‘What do you want to talk about?’ Well, it was a start. But before she could get any further the boys all came back. She couldn’t very well send them away again, and maybe having them here would actually be of some benefit. After all, they needed to talk before Scott went in for his operation.

Virgil handed his Grandmother a flat white and claimed the chair on the other side of Scott, leaving John to perch carefully on the end of the bed while Gordon and Alan pulled up the floor. The hospital had long ago given up on their ‘two visitors only’ policy but that hadn’t persuaded them to provide additional chairs. They had been adamant that they were not going to bend the rules ‘just’ for them. Virgil grinned at the fit the hospital had thrown when they had seen all the extra tech John had installed. There was no doubt in his mind that they would be leaving here after a sizable donation to smooth ruffled feathers. Although Scott’s doctor seemed to find the whole thing quite amusing.

Scott cleared his throat. Grandma was right, they needed to talk some things over. And if he was going under soon he should get it out of the way first. So much was still going on in his mind, and he wondered how he could limit the damage this conversation was bound to have. He knew he had to stop them getting their hopes up. He hated talking to them when he was lying down and couldn’t see their faces, and was more than pleased when Grandma automatically tilted the bed so he could see them.

‘So, I guess we ought to talk about things then.’ He could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. He guessed that they had become so used to him not discussing anything with them. Scott sighed. Where did he start? As if his brother could see the difficulty he was having, John spoke first.

‘I think you should know that EOS has admitted to doing something, although we haven’t talked it through yet. And I’m so sorry that I didn’t listen to you.’ Virgil was nodding along. ‘I’m really sorry too, Scott. We never meant to hurt you in suggesting you needed a break.’ The two youngest nodded along, even though they hadn’t really been involved in it.

Scott stayed silent, thinking through what he was going to say. It was surprising to hear that EOS had said anything to John about what was going on, but it didn’t really change things. He really didn’t want to get into a debate about EOS right now, he wanted to talk about them getting back to work. As far as he was concerned he and EOS had discussed things. 

The doc had decided to leave the head brace on, even though it technically wasn’t needed, because there were so many people and Scott couldn’t be sure to keep still. This meant that his eyes were fixed firmly on John, Gordon and Alan, he couldn’t see Grandma or Virgil. As if sensing that this was uncomfortable for him, Virgil moved to sit at the other end of the bed. Scott gave a small smile. His brother could still read his thoughts then.

‘I don’t want to talk about EOS just yet. I want to talk about you all getting back to work.’ He paused here as he knew they would have the same responses as before. Sure enough, there was a lot of ‘no way, we’re staying here with you,’ mainly from Alan and Gordon. Even John was refusing. Only Virgil stayed silent until everyone had finished.

‘You think that we’ve been offline long enough, don’t you?’ he queried. Scott wanted to nod but thought better of it. ‘I refuse to be the reason that people may die because iR is not operating, or not operating fully. You need to get back in the field.’ Virgil nodded slowly. He had thought about Scott’s request while they were getting coffee, and he knew in his heart that this was the only way the conversation was going to go.

‘Ok, I agree. But – I think we should have a rota whereby one of us is here with you.’ His other brothers nodded at this; it seemed a good compromise. But Scott wasn’t having any of that. ‘Stay with me why? What point is there in that? I’m having the op and then I’ll be flat out for a further three-four weeks before physio starts. No, there is no reason why any of you should stay with me when International Rescue will be a man down anyway. You will need all hands on deck.’ Again there was a chorus of discontent at his words.

Sally closed her eyes at the scene. She knew what Scott was doing, he was pushing them away, and she wished that she could stop him. But he was foremost a man who looked out for others and not himself, and she really wouldn’t change him – even if she wished he would be a little more conscious of his own needs. She could only do so much, though, and so she did the little she could. 

‘Scott’s right. You all need to get back to work. The world still needs you. Don’t worry about Scott. I will stay here with him until he is back on his feet.’ Those simple words stopped the flow of complaints, but none of her boys were happy, including Scott. But they all knew better than to try to get her to change her mind.

Scott looked at his two older brothers. If they thought the last part of the conversation was hard, goodness knew how they were going to take the next part.

‘John, I’m placing you and Virgil as joint Commanders of iR. As of right now. I know that you will work well together as you have always done and take the organisation forward.’ 

There was absolute silence to that statement. Scott counted in his head – he reckoned he could count to seven before they realised what he was saying. And yep – six and Virgil was talking.

‘What do you mean, Scott. I don’t want to be Commander, you’re our Commander.’ John nodded vigorously. ‘Yeah, Scott. I don’t want it either. It’s only a few weeks you won’t be on the island. Sure, you might not be able to go out on rescues for quite a while, but you can direct as always.’

Scott sighed. ‘I’m not coming back to the island. And I’m not coming back to iR. I was quite serious when I said that I quit. Nothing about that has changed except my accident. If anything, it has been made clear to me that it is time I stood aside and let you get on.’

The silence and the frowns as they all digested what was being said would have been funny under different circumstances. 

‘Is this because of EOS?’ Surprisingly, this came from Alan, not John, but Scott knew they all must be thinking it. How could he answer that? Did it come from EOS? The answer was yes, but she had shown him faultless reasoning, and he honestly did not blame her for her actions, as underhanded as she was.

‘EOS and I have spoken, Al. While we disagreed on the method she chose to highlight the issues as she saw them, we have come to an agreement. She will look after you all.’ If he thought the explosion he’d seen when he told them to get out was bad, this was ten times worse. He might have known that they wouldn’t trust the AI, especially if she had confirmed that she had been involved in everything that had gone wrong over the last few months, but he understood her motives probably better than they ever would. After all, he’d been putting them first since they had been born, and EOS had only done the same.

‘ENOUGH!’

That shut them all up. Sally rarely shouted, in fact, Scott didn’t think he’d heard her raise her voice since their dad had returned to them after their mother’s death.

‘Enough, boys. Arguing will get you nowhere. Scott, I can see that you have made your mind up. Nevertheless, the door will always be open to you. John, if Scott says he has cleared things with EOS then you know that he has. However, you will need to have a long and hard discussion with her about her behaviour. Virgil, Gordon, Alan, it’s time to get back out into the world. I am only going to say this once. This family needs a lot of healing to be done, but it will not be done today. It will not be done while Scott is out of action. It will be done, I will not allow our family to continue fractured, but now is not the time. I suggest you all go back to the hotel, get a good night’s sleep and be back here in the morning for your brother’s surgery.’

Scott could have kissed, would have kissed, his Grandma. She was right, they were fractured, and they would heal, but now was not the time. His only regret in all of this was Virgil. His brother refused to look at him, refused to meet his eye.

Virgil shot off the bed, face like thunder. If that was the way Scott wanted it then fine, he could have it his way. Without looking at anyone and without a backwards glance, he shot out of the room, slamming the door behind him. John, Gordon and Alan shared a glance, then followed him. None of them said anything to Scott.

‘They’ll come around, Scott,’ Sally said, seeing the sadness on his face. ‘No, Grandma,’ he replied. ‘I don’t think that they will, this time.’


	11. John & Virgil, Gordon & Alan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers discuss Scott's request.

It wasn’t until they had reached the hotel that John, Gordon and Alan caught up with Virgil. By the time they had reached their suite Virgil had already started packing, angrily throwing clothes into a case and muttering away to himself.

John turned to his two younger brothers, and Gordon got the hint immediately. Grabbing Alan’s arm, he dragged him out, saying they were going to investigate the restaurant.

He watched his immediately younger brother for a short while, debating with himself as to how he was going to deal with this. Usually it was Scott he was dealing with, sometimes the terrible two, but rarely did Virgil ever need, well, need anything in this way. But the longer John left it, the more Virgil was working himself up. He walked up and placed a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, and tried not to be hurt when he flinched.

‘Virgil?’ His shoulders tightened at John’s voice. John would want to talk, and he just didn’t want that right now. ‘What do you want, John?’ John couldn’t help but sigh inside, and he squeezed Virgil’s shoulder, only to be shrugged off. ‘What do you want, John?’ This time he was more forceful, and John was starting to think that he was angrier than John had ever seen him. He removed his hand and moved around to the other side of the bed so that he was now facing his brother.

‘I just want to talk, Virg, that’s all.’ Virgil snorted and carried on packing. John hugged himself and almost whispered, ‘please, Virgil, don’t shut me out too.’ That stopped Virgil dead. Keeping his head down so he wasn’t looking at John, he sighed and virtually whispered, ‘why does he keep pushing us away?’

‘You know that’s Scott’s default setting, right? Don’t let the younger ones know you’re hurting. He’s done that our entire life, you don’t really expect him to change now, do you?’ Virgil deflated further at that. It was true; and one of the most infuriating things his oldest brother did. He sat down on the bed. John came back around and sat next to him.

‘I thought that, once he realised we weren’t trying to get rid of him, he’d be fine, he’d come home. Why is he still sticking to his guns and leaving?’ John sat down beside him and sighed. ‘I don’t really know, and he’s not exactly going to tell us. Maybe Grandma can get through to him.’ Virgil nodded. He was still a little annoyed though, and John could feel that tautness in his shoulder. There was more yet for Virgil to work out, he just needed a nudge. Speaking of nudges, that’s exactly what John did, nudging shoulders, and he was rewarded with a small smile.

‘It’s just that, he’s my best friend, he’s been there my entire life, and suddenly he’s decided that he doesn’t want to be there? Scott’s leaving, John. He’s not just leaving International Rescue, he’s leaving us. And I don’t know how to process that.’ John just nodded. It was a lot to deal with. Scott had always been there, even when he was in another country. Virgil was right, somehow this time was different.

‘Do you want some help repacking that?’ John asked, because there was no way Virgil was going to get that case closed. As he hoped, Virgil gave a small smile, then a short, huffed laugh, wiping at his eyes which had become suspiciously moist. ‘I’m sorry, John. For snapping at you.’ They sat in companionable silence for a moment, giving comfort and support from each other. ‘It’s fine, Virg. This is a very stressful time. The offer was genuine, though. Do you want help packing?’ This time Virgil laughed. ‘Sure.’ And for the next hour the pair worked steadily packing away what they had brought.

Just as they finished up Gordon and Alan returned. Pleased that the threatened fight had not materialised, Gordon plonked down on a clear patch of bed and pulled Alan down next to him. ‘So, what’s next on the agenda?’ he asked, watching his older brothers intently. They may have talked through the potential argument that had obviously been brewing, but there were still plans to be made. Alan still looked like a startled rabbit; he was so unsure of what was happening to them all.

‘I think we need to decide if we are going to stay for Scott’s surgery tomorrow or get back to the island and work straight away,’ Virgil said, sitting back down. Gordon nodded, but it came as no surprise to anyone when it was Alan who jumped up, incredulous at the thought of leaving Scott behind.

‘I can’t believe you’re thinking of just going home! What about Scott? We can’t leave him like this?’ Alan shouted. ‘Why not, Al? It’s what he wants!’ Gordon, trying to be the voice of reason. ‘He doesn’t know what he wants! He’s injured and hurt and, and…’ And John enfolded Alan into a hug, cutting his rant off before Alan worked himself up into a full-blown rage. Virgil and Gordon quickly joined in. 

It had been a while since they had all been together, let alone shared a hug, and although they broke apart reasonably quickly, by the time they had Alan was quietly crying, and even Gordon had tears in his eyes. John shepherd Alan out of the bedroom into the lounge area and onto the couch. He kept his arm around his youngest brother and effected not to notice as Alan attempted to pull himself together. Virgil and Gordon sat on the other couch.

‘We’re not abandoning Scott, Alan. But he is right, International Rescue has been offline fully for two weeks now. And we’re not leaving him alone, Grandma’s there.’ John spoke softly, but his voice dominated the room. ‘As for Scott not knowing what he wants because he’s hurt,’ and John paused, sighing. ‘He knows what he’s doing. Have you ever known Scott to not have a plan, a reason?’ Three heads nodded in agreement. ‘He’s got his reasons; we just don’t know what they are yet.’

Alan sighed. John was right as usual. Scott always knew what he was doing, in fact Alan had often marvelled at how his oldest brother could pull the impossible out of the hat because he saw variables that no-one else did. 

‘So what are we going to do about tomorrow?’ 

Ah yes, the big question. Virgil was torn. He wanted to go, to be there, but he also didn’t. There was a large part of him that was tired of being pushed away by his closest friend. He thought that they had actually had a breakthrough in Scott’s reasonings when they were camped out in the artic, but everything that had happened since made it feel that they actually hadn’t – if anything things were worse. Whatever was going on with Scott, they were not going to get to the bottom of it before Scott’s op. And he would not be in a position to do so while recovering, so this was going to be an issue at least until he was back on his feet.

John was in two minds. He really wanted to be there for his only oldest brother, despite Scott’s words. And he truly believed what he had said to Virgil earlier – this was Scott’s default setting, pushing them away so they did not see his vulnerability, what he perceived as a weakness. But he wanted to get back to work. Although, that brought up the matter of EOS and he still wasn’t ready to face her yet. That would need a screwed-on head – and he didn’t have that right now. Hearing that Scott and she had spoken and cleared the air between them had only made it harder for some reason he had not fathomed yet.

Alan didn’t really want to go home. At all. He wanted to be here for his big brother as Scott had always been there for him. But Scott had made it quite clear that he expected them to get back to work. Alan couldn’t conceive of the Island without Scott on a permanent basis, so he chose to ignore it. Maybe after his operation and his recovery Scott will feel different. He clung to that thought.

Gordon was possibly the most pragmatic of them all in this situation. He agreed with Scott that they needed to get iR back up and running, and their lives back to some kind of normality. He’d been pleased that he’d be able to help Scott when he was ready, an opportunity to repay the months of assistance Scott had given him, and if his brother was serious about quitting, it would give him an opportunity to keep an eye on him, to get to the bottom of what was really eating him.

Go home now or stay until tomorrow? 

It was Alan who spoke first. ‘I think I want to stay for tomorrow. It’s going to be a long time before we see Scott again, so I want to leave at the last possible minute.’ His brothers all murmured agreements. So the rest of the evening was spent making sure everything was packed ready, and they retired early.

Virgil glanced over to John, still sitting on the window sill although they’d retired hours ago. His brother was troubled and unsure what to do, and that was very unlike John. Like Scott, John always had a plan, a course of action. Now, he looked lost.

‘John?’ He looked over to see Virgil sitting on his bed, watching him. ‘Yeah, Virg?’ ‘You ok?’ John sighed. He hadn’t spoken properly to EOS in these last 5 days, and before, when they were trying to work out how things had gone wrong he’d still barely spoken to her. It felt like a betrayal, but of what he wasn’t sure. Scott may have made his piece with the AI, but John hadn’t had time to have any real discussion with EOS at all.

‘Are you worried about getting back to work with EOS?’ John had his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them, head on his knees. ‘Yeah, I am.’ Virgil nodded. ‘If you want, I’ll come up with you and we can talk together?’ He couldn’t see it, but he could hear the relief in John’s voice. ‘Thanks, Virg, I think that’s a great idea.’ A nod. ‘We’ll deal with her together. In the meantime, try to get some sleep.’ John nodded and climbed into his bed, relieved that they would face this together.

The look on Scott’s face the next morning just before he was wheeled away spoke volumes that they had made the right choice.


	12. Operation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to start fixing Scott - physically at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter one this week. Mainly because it flows better to keep the two topics separated into two chapters, but also because uni assignments have started again.

Sally was so proud of her grandchildren. After yesterday and all the things that had been said, implied and not spoken about at all, she was so pleased that they all turned up to see Scott off to his operation. She could see it wasn’t easy on any of them, but the relief in Scott’s eyes that they had come was palpable.

It was going to be a long wait. Once they had been informed which procedure Scott would be having both John and Virgil had researched it. Although it was a simple procedure, because there were multiple fractures in a small area they would be taking time to ensure everything would take well.

Usually patient could go home and even have no issues with walking, but because of Scott’s other injuries more precautions were being taken. The professionals were also not entirely sure that there was no nerve damage to his spine, so at least four weeks were going to be spent in hospital while his leg and hip healed enough before working though the physio needed to get back on his feet. 

Kyphoplasty was the planned procedure, with the option for a short fusion if necessary. With two vertebrae definitely fractured, it was going to be a minimum of four hours before Scott would be out of the operating theatre, and they had warned everyone that if the kyphoplasty looked like it wouldn’t be an option, if a fusion had to go ahead, or if more fractures were discovered it would be much longer.

Used to hospital stays and operations, the Tracy family settled down to wait. 

It took six hours.

They had managed to perform the kyphoplasty on the lower two lumbar vertebrae and had also completed a lumbar discectomy as the disc between had been damaged and was pressing on Scott’s spinal cord. There was still some inflammation around the area and some minor concern about the positioning of the swelling. There had been discussions as to whether a short fusion would be a good idea, but ultimately they decided it wouldn’t be necessary, and a possible back-up if a second procedure was needed.

Normally a patient would be kept on their front only for a few hours after recovery, but with Scott’s hip and leg injuries along with the swelling, they had decided to keep him on his front for the night. It was very complex, working out the best treatment and ongoing therapy was difficult. Usually for both the back procedures and the broken hip, encouraging walking and movement was normal. But until the swelling reduced enough to see that there wasn’t going to be a permanent issue, it had been decided to keep him as immobile as possible.

By the time Scott began to come around it was early evening. It was a crowd of relieved faces he saw when he could eventually open his eyes and keep them open long enough. Scott smiled to see them all, crowding each other so that he could see them all without turning his head. Poor Alan was getting squashed between Gordon and Virgil. John was tall enough to be behind them all, and Grandma was next to Virgil, his arm around her shoulders. She always did favour his middle brother, much as she denied it.

Scott didn’t stay awake for long. As he dropped back off his brothers let out a collective sigh. Although there still was some fear for his ability to walk, so far things had gone well. They sat around the bed and quietly discussed how they would go forward. Eventually Sally interrupted them. Reminding them what Scott’s original feelings and requests were, she shot down several plans.

Alan wanted to stay. He wanted to be helpful to Scott, and he’d already decided that Scott would change his mind when he woke up. Sally disagreed. It was highly unlikely that he would change his mind that much. Alan pouted. It didn’t work.

Gordon, Virgil and John were debating staying the night until Scott was more awake or leaving now. Sally sighed. She totally understood the question, and she was also torn. Scott had been very clear about them getting straight back to work, but he’d been barely conscious long enough to see them properly. She was sure that Scott would be perfectly happy to see them tomorrow if they stayed, but he would be equally as happy if they weren’t there and had returned home.

If they were going to go home tonight, then they better set off now as it was already getting late and it would take time to get back. In the end they decided to go. Alan argued, but Sally agreed with them. The longer they stayed the harder it would be to leave, and in some ways leaving while Scott was asleep would make that easier. She was pleased that Scott had asked her to stay.

In total it would take the boys and Two almost two hours to get home if Virgil went at top speed, but not pushing her like he had on the way here. So now seemed a good idea to go. Saying goodbye to their Grandma was also hard, and both Virgil and Gordon promised that they would keep regular contact. Alan had an extra hug. No one was happy, but they were resigned to what was going on.

Sally knew that once they were back to work it would get easier. There was one more obstacle to overcome for the two eldest.

It was time to talk to EOS


End file.
